BUTLER — The article in the Mt. Vernon True Whig starts dramatically: “A Terrible Accident. — One of the most disastrous accidents that ever occurred on the S. M. & N. Railroad, was that of yesterday morning.” That may sound like a major disaster of epic proportions, but it helps to know a couple of […]
History Knox
Posted inArea History
Here’s a glimpse of downtown Fredericktown before pavement
FREDERICKTOWN — Tim Ashcraft runs a great Facebook group, called Memories of Knox County, Ohio. I wanted to share an excellent old postcard photo he posted to the group that shows downtown Fredericktown somewhere in the early 1900s. Looking down the hill toward the mill, there is a prominent large building that group member James […]
Posted inArea History
Lafferty Farm near Bellville has a burial mound, whether or not it was human-made
BELLVILLE — In another installment of a series on regional mounds that is unfolding as slowly as geology itself, I bring you today the unofficial Lafferty Mound, a little north of the Knox/Richland County line, near Bellville. I describe it as unofficial because I can find no records indicating that it has ever been declared […]
Posted inArea History
Now & Then: Fredericktown’s Mill St. in 1912 and 111 years later
FREDERICKTOWN — It’s fun to catch glimpses of familiar spots in historical images. Sometimes there are significant differences, yet other times the veil between now and then is pretty thin. This image of the curve outside of Fredericktown on East Mill Street is recognizable in either version. The vintage image is a postcard from 1912 […]
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Here’s a glimpse of ‘Hell’s Neck’ in Fredericktown
FREDERICKTOWN — A picture posted some years ago in the Knox Time collection on Facebook came with an interesting detail. This area of the B&O Railroad tracks crossing Mill Street in Fredericktown was apparently at one time known as Hell’s Neck, according to a comment left by Knox Time reader James Wagner. One wonders why! […]
Posted inArea History
Was a woman the brains behind 1933 Fredericktown bank robbery?
FREDERICKTOWN — The news this week of a bank robbery in Centerburg reminded me of Knox County’s infamous 1934 bank robbery in Gambier by members of John Dillinger’s gang, which we’ve talked about here before. A lesser-known event, though, is the robbery that took place on Dec. 30, 1933, in Fredericktown. Digging into the story proves […]